Eric's House

On day two Jared, Marissa, Kerry, Matt, and I went to Dan’s house. He is a veteran that lost his house in the tornado. Before taking care of his own possessions, he made sure to check on all of his neighbors and helped them to remove their debris. His house did not seem far from being done. We learned how to drywall and mud. Sadly, we did not really get the chance to speak to Dan since he was outside running around most of the day.

Day three I was with the same crew and we were assigned to Eric’s house. We had the address and kept driving around the block wondering if we were given the wrong address. So we called Eric and asked which house was his. We had driven by it a few times and did not think it was a project since the front doors had signs saying “Keep Out” and “No Trespassing.” The house was in really bad shape. You could tell that there had not been a lot of work done to it since the tornado.

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Joplin Damage

Imagine a residential neighborhood, just your average everyday neighborhood; houses about 30 feet apart, nice streets, shrubbery, 3rd and 4th generation families living there…this was Joplin, MO before May 22, 2011.

Having been on several mission trips these past few years with CSF, you would think, or at least I did, that I wouldn’t be too greatly shocked by the extent of the damage in Joplin.  But this was on a whole other scale.  In New Orleans, you could see the flood damage:  water/mud lines on walls, buildings boarded up and condemned, even the spray painted markings were there from search parties.  The difference was, the buildings were still there!  The area of Joplin that was hit by the EF-5 tornado was very much the same as described, but now that area is COMPLETELY barren.  The tornado carved out a 1 by 6 mile, yes MILE, block of the town, in an area much described like that above.  Nothing was left standing, not even a tree.  Anything that is now standing in the core damage zone is of new construction.  This includes power poles, houses, and there are still no trees. 

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New Palestine Methodist Church

About a week before Spring Break, we decided we needed to find a stopping point in the middle of our trip to stay the night. I have a pretty big family and I was pretty excited that we were going right by one of my Aunt and Uncle’s house.  I called up my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Woody to see if we could stay with them and they immediately said yes to housing 10 random college-aged and older kids that they had never met before except for their niece. Such brave souls to take on that challenge!  But they took it and we all were very humbled by their hospitality. 

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Joplin Organizations

During 2012's spring break trip we had the opportunity to go to Joplin, Missouri and assist two great organizations, Rebuild Joplin and AmeriCorps. As we entered Rebuild Joplin's office on our first day, I noticed images, inspiring stories, and signatures from volunteers surrounding me. The woman speaking with us was very kind and very happy to see new volunteers. They had many different jobs going on throughout the town, many of which involved AmeriCorps whom we worked side by side with. They had numerous jobs waiting for us and we gladly went. Everyone we worked with was extremely enthusiastic about their work. Some even told of how happy they were that they'd gotten the chance to be stationed in Joplin. Seeing their love and passion inspired me. These people weren't forced into these jobs, it wasn't their family business. No, these people signed up to help out of kindness. I've beein raised around faith, hard work, and helping others. That week in Joplin made me realize what I want to do with my  life. The work we did during that time, helping others physically and emotionally, it's my dream job.